Our Voice: Savings from privatizing some school services is too big to ignore

The FlintSchool District and other public school systems across GeneseeCounty must put aside the idea that they are employment agencies for their communities.

They must make the changes in their practices that are necessary to keep them in the business of educating the community's students.

The Flint Board of Education took a big step in the right direction this month when trustees agreed to begin talks with private companies to provide non-educational services to the schools.

Early this month, district officials estimated they could save $5.8 million if they contracted with private companies for custodial, maintenance and transportation services.

If companies that are bidding on that work can provide the same performance or better than the district's own employees, we say go for it.

The savings would be a necessary ingredient in plugging an estimated $9.5 million hole in next year's school budget. That's the deficit left to cover, school officials said, even after they institute proposed 15 percent budget cuts in all district departments. With state and federal money for schools cut, property tax revenue still dropping, enrollment declining and so state per-pupil aid plummeting, Flint schools cannot afford to turn away from less-expensive ways of meeting basic district needs.

Yet, there's some reluctance on the board to saying good-bye to loyal, longtime employees. That's even though some companies bidding for the work say they'd hire the district employees, but at a much lower rate of pay.

Linden schools, too, felt the sentimental tug of replacing its custodial employees when its school board this month tabled a proposal to hire a private company to keep schools clean and in good repair.

For a time this spring, Linden was looking like it would be the first GeneseeCounty district to privatize a major service this year. The school board there buckled under pressure from teachers who urged more time for contract negotiations with custodians.

These districts and others that may have to save money by privatizing services need to get over one big hurdle.

Schools have one responsibility, providing the best education possible for students. They have no responsibility to ensure that local people are employed, and paid far and above what workers in private industry make for the same work.

That should apply to every school employee, including teachers. It's why Gov. Rick Snyder insists that they pay 20 percent of the cost of their health care insurance, roughly the private-sector standard outside of government work. In Flint schools, teachers may be asked to increase their share of health care premiums from 10 percent now to 20 percent.

That's part of what Snyder calls a "best practice," a cost-saving measure that saves the public money and places no more burden on public employees than private workers have to bear.

School districts that employ best practices like the 20 percent health care share and privatization of some services would stand to get back some of the per-student state aid cuts proposed in Lansing.

There is no justifiable reason why school districts should pay more for a service such as in-house custodial work if they can get it much more cheaply from outside contractors.

Note that neither Linden nor Flint have deep-sixed the proposals to contract for some services, and that they are continuing negotiations with their employee unions. That would make bids the districts have collected for the work bargaining chips in union negotiations.

At this point, though, one month from when balanced school budgets are due, it's a little late in the game to be negotiating major contract changes. That should have been done months ago, when schools saw that Lansing was sharpening its budget-cutting blades.

Private companies are already waiting in the wings to begin work in Flint and Linden schools. Hire them, and let them in.